Governance/Compliance

In today’s business environment, boards are naturally inclined toward risk assessment and caution. This occurs simultaneously and without the slightest hint of irony that business growth is also expected. CEOs and their executive team are put in place to create growth with as little risk as possible, and this comes in the form of management submitting initiatives requiring board approval.

Walt Disney’s Board of Directors extended Chairman and CEO Bob Iger’s contract through 2016. … Kevin Systrom, CEO and co-founder of Instagram, has been named to the Wal-Mart board. Systrom will help Walmart move its digital strategy forward.

Entrepreneurs are often advised that they should have a board of directors; but due to their lack of familiarity with such groups, they don’t understand why they need one, what they’ll get from having one, and what it will cost to assemble it.

Often, CEOs and board members disagree on the direction of the company. Or, the CEO has taken some risks to turn the company around and they haven’t all worked. Nine times out of 10 when that happens, it’s the CEO who bears the brunt of the axe.

Since the 1980s, creeping precedent has allowed federal agencies to amass considerable regulatory and enforcement power. Undaunted by recent defeats in the courts, the SEC wants to become both judge and jury. But one small cap hedge fund managed to stop them in their tracks.

There are “good” boards and then there are “great” boards. Increasingly, research points to the link between effective board dynamics and shareholder value. In fact, 73% of directors polled in a recent study indicated that “great” boards are a substantial component of corporate success.